Kingsbury has Raiders' fans fired up

Excitement surrounding Texas Tech football is at a fever pitch with first-year coach Kliff Kingsbury at the helm.

Photo: Stephen Spillman / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

LUBBOCK — Kliff Kingsbury might be the youngest head coach at a school in a “Big Five” power conference.

But it doesn't matter to Texas Tech fans, who literally are counting the seconds until the first former Red Raiders player to serve as their football coach finally starts the season.

The school's new jumbo scoreboard — eighth largest in college football — was ticking down the minutes and seconds inside Jones AT&T Stadium this week before the opener next week at SMU.

It's been a whirlwind of activity the last few weeks for Kingsbury, 34, who has whipped up anticipation about the Red Raiders' upcoming season to a fever pitch.

“It's completely different around here than I've seen in a long time,” said 78-year-old John Ferguson, a retired Midland school administrator who moved to Lubbock after his retirement to be closer to his beloved Red Raiders.

“We all saw Kliff grow up as a Red Raider and what he did as our quarterback. His energy has brought a lot of excitement back to the program.”

Kingsbury's introductory kickoff luncheon drew a record crowd of about 1,600 Thursday afternoon to the Lubbock Civic Center.

It's continued a surge of enthusiasm that has led to a record for season tickets, membership in the Red Raider Club booster group and a never-before-seen level of fundraising for that group.

For his part, Kingsbury is more concerned about the start of the season against the Mustangs in Dallas as anything else. He's sifting through different scenarios that could lead to freshman Davis Webb or walk-on freshman Baker Mayfield starting at quarterback with projected starter Michael Brewer sidelined with a back injury.

“It's been an incredible eight months,” Kingsbury said. “The reception we received in this town has been overwhelming. The support that has come in from everywhere.”

Playing the games will be when the real fun begins for Kingsbury, who arrived after spending last season as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. He was one of the key architects in Johnny Manziel's remarkable rise to winning the Heisman Trophy during his redshirt freshman season last year.

Tech fans are charged about him bringing that football acumen to his alma mater and hopefully sparking the program.

Kingsbury's importance to the Red Raiders was mentioned by Tech soccer coach Tom Stone, who said attending booster functions across the state with the new coach has been an eye-opening experience all summer.

“Traveling with Kliff is like traveling with Elvis,” Stone said. “It was awesome being around him.

“People tell me they saw a guy who is young, cool, handsome and nouveau. They say that Kliff Kingsbury will save Texas Tech.”

But Stone had a good-natured dig at the Aggies with his punch line, which brought howls of laughter from the pro-Red Raiders audience.

Tim Griffin has been a journalist for more than 30 years working at a variety of newspapers and websites, including more than 25 years at the San Antonio Express-News. He has covered all four Spurs NBA championship series victories, along with 12 national championship football games and five Final Fours. Griffin has been honored nationally and regionally for his writing and enterprise and was a former national president of the Football Writers Association of America. He is a graduate of the University of Memphis and is married with one son.